Now rookie Cahill’s planning on World domination
BY NEIL GOULDING Ronnie was under a lot of pressure to beat me, he doesn’t want to lose to me, and maybe that played a part.
“I believed I could win. It gives me great memories. I’m here to win the tournament. I’ve proved I can play.
“I don’t have anything left to prove. I’ve just beaten Ronnie, world No.1, and I’m going to go out and play.”
His parents, sister, and auntie Amanda – who is Stephen Hendry’s ex-wife – were all at The Crucible to share Cahill’s greatest career moment.
The Blackpool ace, who punched the air and table in delight after winning, dedicated the stunning triumph to his family.
He said: “I owe everything I’ve achieved in my career to my family. They’ve supported me when times have been tough and I wouldn’t be here without them.”
O’Sullivan’s shock loss now casts even more doubt on his ability to equal Hendry’s haul of seven world titles.
Although Cahill no longer speaks to the Scot he did him a favour downing the Rocket.
O’Sullivan was the red-hot favourite to land a sixth world title this year and was given odds as short as 1-50 to beat the 23-year-old in the first round after a stellar season that’s seen him win five titles.
But the 43-year-old revealed he was suffering with illness and struggling to stay awake during the match.
He said: “All my limbs just feel really heavy. I had no energy, I was struggling to stay awake.
“I felt horrendous but I don’t want to take anything away from James.
“You have to come here feeling physically and mentally good. I felt mentally good but if you’re not physically 100 per cent then it’s going to be hard.
“I haven’t slept well for the last couple of nights, it’s been tough. I felt exhausted and tried to do the best that I could but I’ve not felt great for a few days.
“If you could take a magic pill to protect yourself against this stuff then everyone would. Some things are out of your control.
“There’s been a few shocks over the years. Steve Davis had a bad first-round loss and so did Stephen Hendry and John Higgins too. It’s disappointing but it’s been a successful season.”
Next up for Cahill is a mouthwatering secondround clash with Glaswegian Maguire on Friday.
Unlike golf, where amateurs can’t collect winnings from professional tournaments, they can in snooker – which means that win or lose the giantkiller has earned himself his biggest pay day of £30,000. WIMBLEDON wild-card hopeful Aidan McHugh looked into the eye of the Tiger and could see the steely focus needed for success.
The teenager has broken into the top 500 on the ATP world rankings and returned to his roots last weekend for the opening of six new artificial clay courts at his old Thorn Park Tennis Club in Bearsden.
The 18-year-old, who reached the Australian Open boys’ semis last year, has been inspired by Tiger Woods’ ending an 11-year Major wait at this month’s Masters. McHugh said: “As soon as Tiger won he showed so much emotion but up until that point he barely even smiled or spoke to his caddie.
“That’s an interesting lesson. It’s a bit like Roger Federer, he is very focused too. This was like the old Tiger where he was just so focused he would intimidate the other guy.
“That’s quite good to learn from. It isn’t easy to be so focused for a long period of time.” RYAN WILSON is set to make his Glasgow comeback in their Pro14 crunch clash with rivals Edinburgh.
The Scotland breakaway forward has been out for almost three months since injuring his knee at Murrayfield in the Six Nations defeat by Ireland.
But Wilson is now likely to line-up against the Gunners in the last regular league match of the campaign.
Warriors must dodge a Scotstoun derby defeat to go into the title playoff semi-finals as conference winners.
They’d also be rewarded with a home-turf match with a place in next month’s final at Celtic Park up for grabs.
Warriors assistant coach Jason O’Halloran said: “Callum Gibbins is also back in the selection picture and we’ll have a clearer idea after the big training session on Thursday.
“It’s looking pretty positive and Ryan in particular is champing at the bit to be involved – he just loves playing against Edinburgh.”